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As the final whistle blew at St James’ Park and Nottingham Forest’s players collapsed to the turf in despair, Eddie Howe looked simply bemused and confused.
Shortly afterwards Newcastle’s manager said that, even though his team had won 4-3, he felt as if they had lost one of the most extraordinary Premier League games of the season.
Torn between exasperation and relief, Howe did not initially know quite how to react as his side clung on to beat Nuno Espírito Santo’s side in a match the home team had led 4-1 at one stage.
It left Newcastle fifth and only three points behind Forest following a chaotic afternoon that could exert a significant bearing on Champions League qualification at the end of the season.
“I am still trying to control my thoughts and stay positive,” Howe said. “It was a crazy game. You’ve seen the best of us and the worst of us. It feels like we lost the game, even though we won it.”
At the end Yasir al-Rumayyan, Newcastle’s chair, making a rare visit from Riyadh, stepped onto the pitch and embraced Howe. “It was good to see the chairman but he might have heard a couple of swear words from me,” conceded the manager. “I think he was in the same sort of emotional state though.”
Newcastle’s Saudi Arabian owners will decide this week whether they want the club to remain at a rebuilt St James’ Park or seek planning permission for a new build in nearby Leazes Park and Al-Rumayyan will lead discussions with UK-based directors amid the seclusion of the Northumberland countryside.
Any new ground will struggle to host matches as dramatic as this. “At our best we were free flowing and dynamic but we weren’t perfect,” Howe said. “We couldn’t get a grip when we lost momentum in the second half. It was a great first-half performance but we didn’t manage the game well and we showed frailties at set plays.”
At least Howe had Alexander Isak on his side. Newcastle’s manager duly praised his Sweden striker for scoring his 49th and 50th Premier League goals in 76 appearances for the Tyneside club. “It’s a huge achievement, when Alex plays like he did in the first half, he’s massive for us,” he said.
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Howe also had warm words for his 18-year-old midfielder Lewis Miley, who shone throughout and scored Newcastle’s first goal. “A really good performance from Lewis Miley,” he said. “I’m very pleased with his development.”
Nuno seemed similarly stunned by the madness that had just unfolded in front of him. “We made mistakes, Newcastle made mistakes but it was two totally different halves,” the Forest manager said. “In the first half I didn’t recognise our team, we were so bad, but the second half was much better.
“We started well and scored but then Newcastle just rolled over us. In the first half every time Newcastle had the ball they looked like scoring. But I wish there had been another 10 minutes at the end of the second half. We needed that extra time because, by the end, we were on top and had Newcastle on the ropes.
“Now it’s about trying to settle down, calm down and be our true selves.”
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